Slow Cooker/Instant Pot – Old Fashioned Chili

Chili is an easy and comforting recipe that everyone seems to enjoy. This simple yet flavorful recipe can be made in the Instant Pot or slow cooker.

This originally posted as a slow cooker recipe but it as has been updated to include Instant Pot instructions as well.

Chili is kind of the gateway into slow cooking. For most people it’s the first slow cooker meal they make because it’s so easy to make. There are a thousand chili recipes out there because everyone has their own. This is mine. The slow cooker version of this chili is featured in my 1st cookbook, The Easy & Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook. I recently made it in my Instant Pot because I needed it done rather quickly which led to me updating this post.

before

Meat: I kept some of the ingredients in this recipe generic on purpose. For example I just say, ‘ground meat and sausage’ because whether it is beef, pork or turkey that’s up to you. My preferred combination is lean ground beef and mild Italian ground pork sausage but ground turkey and turkey sausage works well here too. I always like to brown my meat to discard of extra grease before adding it to the slow cooker but that’s an optional step. You don’t need to do this, especially if you use a lean ground meat.

after

Beans: I used salt-free, canned red kidney beans that were drained and rinsed. Black beans, pinto, garbanzo beans…you can substitute whichever beans you like in this case. Or simply omit the beans all together. If you do omit the them, this recipe is paleo and whole30 compliant! Tomatoes:  This recipes uses approximately 45 ounces of tomatoes. I used a combo of crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Absolutely switch that combo up: got diced tomatoes but not crushed or sauce? Then use all diced.

Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Old Fashioned Chili

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• Author: Fit SlowCooker Queen
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 4 hours
• Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

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Ingredients

• 1 lb ground meat
• 1 lb sausage (uncased)
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 15 ounces red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp oil (for pressure cooker)

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Instructions

Slow Cooker

Optional but recommended step is to brown the ground meat & sausage in a skillet over medium heat & drain the fat before adding the meat to the slow cooker.

1. Add all other ingredients to slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
2. Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8.

Instant Pot

1. Turn on the IP and select Sauté. Once hot add oil, ground meat, sausage, and onion to the pot.  Cook 5-7 minutes, crumbling the meat as it cooks. You might need to do this in batches.  Drain fat excess fat if needed.
2. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker by scraping all the bits off with a wooden spoon.
3. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure and cook for 20 minutes. Quick release pressure.

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Notes

Nutritional facts calculated using lean ground beef and pork sausage

I like to make my chili the day before I plan on serving it. I don’t know about you but chili always tastes best to me served the next day. Am I the only one that thinks this?

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You will need a large 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot for this recipe.

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